


Marvin

by clocky



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Queer author
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:48:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23688703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clocky/pseuds/clocky
Summary: Pathfinder and Revenant talk about names, and learn some new things about each other.
Relationships: Pathfinder/Revenant (Apex Legends)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 124





	Marvin

**Author's Note:**

> this isn't related to the rest of my revfinder fics, it's more of a one-shot of another possible way they could have become friends.

Revenant was pissed.

It seemed that everything that could possibly go wrong in the games had gone wrong today. In almost every match, his team had been ambushed early on and easily taken out. When they finally made it into the top three, in the last match of the day, they had succumbed to the ring after accidentally cornering themselves inside the planet harvester. Revenant was enraged about it, not only at his teammates, but at his own stupidity for letting himself lose in such a humiliating way.

As soon as the dropship touched down on the landing pad, Revenant shoved past everyone else, intending to exit the ship first and then storm straight to his room in their shared housing facility and not come out until he had sufficiently mangled something beyond repair. He didn't know what yet, but he would figure that out when he got there.

He took one step down the ramp and felt a hand on his shoulder. He whirled around, ready to attack whoever dared to touch him--and stopped short when he saw who it was.

"Hi, friend! Great work out there today!" Pathfinder said, the screen on his chest displaying a happy face. 

"What the hell do you want," Revenant growled at him even as his faceplates heated up. Goddamn it, why did he always feel so weird around Pathfinder?

"Oh, I just wanted to say hello, really," Pathfinder replied as the other legends stepped around them to disembark the ramp. Revenant could feel Bloodhound's stare even beneath their goggles as they slowly walked by, and he narrowed his eyes at them. He didn't know what he had done to earn the stare, but it pissed him off. He almost said something to them, but Pathfinder spoke again before he could.

"Bloth, I will catch up with you later in the common room, if that's okay!" Pathfinder said, giving them a little wave. Bloodhound nodded and gave him a two finger salute before continuing off the ship.

Before Revenant knew it, it was just him and Pathfinder left on the dropship. He suddenly became aware that Pathfinder's hand was still on his shoulder, and he shrugged it off with an irritated grunt. "Is that all you've got to say? I'm leaving, then."

"No, wait!" Pathfinder exclaimed, and he began to reach his hand out again before thinking better of it and pulling it away. "Um, I just...I just..."

"You just what?" Revenant prompted, crossing his arms and looking down at the shorter robot.

A nervous face appeared on Pathfinder's screen as he fidgeted with his hands. "Well, friend, I just wanted to ask if you'd be interested in...hanging out with me?"

Revenant blinked, then burst into laughter. Pathfinder's shoulders immediately slouched, a sad face appearing on his screen, and Revenant could swear he felt his non-existent stomach drop. "No, I--I wasn't laughing at you, goddamn it. I mean, not the way you think I was. I mean..." Why was it so hard just to form coherent thoughts around this guy? Why did he even care about how Pathfinder felt in the first place?

"Really?" Pathfinder perked up at that, tilting his head to the side. "Why were you laughing then?"

Revenant tried to ignore the feelings that welled up inside him when Pathfinder looked at him like that. "Because the thought of someone wanting to hang out with me is laughable," he grunted, turning around and disembarking the ship. Pathfinder hurried after him.

"I don't see what's funny about it," Pathfinder said, falling into step beside Revenant. "I'm very serious! I think you're interesting and I want to be your friend!"

"I don't do friends," Revenant said flatly. "Emotional attachments make you weak."

"Can you make an exception?"

Revenant stopped and turned to look at him once again. "Why are you doing this? Leave me alone." The words were said with more wariness than aggression.

"Because I don't want you to be alone," Pathfinder said. "No one should be alone."

A strange feeling rose in his chest, and he did his best to quell it. "I like being alone."

"No you don't."

"How the hell do you know what I like and don't like?" Revenant retorted, losing his patience. "You don't even know me."

"Not yet. But I want to." A heart briefly flashed across his screen before disappearing, and Revenant tried not to think about the implications that might hold. Suddenly, he was aware of Pathfinder's fingers brushing softly against his own in a clearly deliberate act. He quickly yanked his hand away. "Who said you could touch me?" he growled.

"Oh--I'm sorry," Pathfinder took a step back, a sad face appearing on his screen. "I didn't mean to overstep your boundaries, friend. I will ask next time."

"There is no next time," Revenant said, even as his circuitry heated up at the thought of Pathfinder touching his hand like that again. What the hell was happening to him? He was supposed to be an emotionless killing machine. Why was this troublesome little MRVN unit giving him these feelings?

"Okay! I won't touch you if you don't want me to," Pathfinder agreed, nodding. "But I'm still going to be your friend."

Revenant closed his eyes. Took a deep breath through his artificial respiratory system, and thought about the way that Pathfinder made him feel.

He just knew he was going to regret this.

"...Fine."

"Yes!" Pathfinder pumped his fist in the air, a clapping emoji appearing on his screen. "We are going to be the best of friends, I just know it!"

"Yeah, sure," Revenant grunted, ignoring the warmth that spread through him. "Listen, Pathfinder, I--"

"Oh, you can call me Marvin!" Pathfinder interrupted, giving him a thumbs-up. "Pathfinder isn't my real name. That's just what I call myself in the games!"

Revenant blinked at him. "Why would I call you MRVN? That's not a name. I don't call myself Simulacrum."

"No no no," Pathfinder corrected him, "It's not M-R-V-N. It's M-a-r-v-i-n. It is a real name, I promise, and it is mine!" He spelled the name out on his screen as well for emphasis.

Revenant didn't know what to say to that. Pathfinder had a real name? Granted it wasn't a very original one, but...he had a name. "Did you pick it yourself?" He found himself asking.

Marvin nodded. "I don't know who my creator is, so I had to name myself. Most people I meet already call me MRVN, so I picked Marvin, to make it easy for everyone to remember!"

"Hm." Revenant mulled that over for a moment. "Okay. I'll call you Marvin if you want me to." He turned and began walking again, and Marvin quickly followed after him.

"So..." Marvin hedged, looking up at Revenant as they walked. "Is there...a name you would like me to call you, friend?" he asked cautiously.

Revenant's shoulders stiffened, and he continued to look forward. "I don't have a name."

"What about Revenant?"

"That's just what the Syndicate decided to call me. I didn't get a say in it." A hint of bitterness crept into his voice. "Didn't get a say in much of anything."

"Oh..." A sad face displayed on Marvin's screen, and Revenant pretended not to notice. Marvin spoke up again. "What about when you were human? Did you have a name then?"

Revenant stopped walking, his hands clenching into tight fists as he stared at the ground. "Does it matter if I did? I don't want to think about what I used to be. There's no point."

"I'm sorry." Marvin took a step closer to Revenant, reaching his hand up towards his face. Revenant flinched, and Marvin quickly pulled his hand back. "Sorry, friend, I--I forgot you didn't want to be touched."

If Revenant had a heart, it would have been beating out of his chest. "It's...fine," he mumbled. He hesitated for a moment, then, wondering what the hell he thought he was doing, took Marvin's hand in his own and brought it to his face.

Marvin's optic glowed brighter, and his screen showed a surprised face. Gently, he cupped Revenant's cheek in his hand, his thumb tracing the red line that ran down under his eye. Revenant let out a weary sigh, and Marvin felt like the simulacrum's tired eyes could have burned a hole straight through him, the pain he saw there striking him to the core. He wanted to embrace Revenant and tell him that it was all going to be okay somehow.

Instead, he said "Do you want me to help you name yourself?"

Revenant's eyes went wide, and his grip on Marvin's hand slackened, his arm falling back to his side. Marvin gave Revenant's cheek one last stroke before regretfully pulling his hand away. "I apologize if I overstepped, friend."

Revenant was silent for a moment, just staring at him. Then he looked away. "You didn't." He absentmindedly retrieved a small geometrical object from the compartment on his arm and began fidgeting with it.

"What is that?" Marvin asked curiously, tilting his head and examining the object in Revenant's hands. It was black and red and seemed to glow with power.

"Oh, it's--it's just something they gave me when I entered the games." He held out his palm and the little object floated in the air a few inches above it. "It holds the energy for my tactical ability. But I also just like to mess around with it, I guess. Makes me feel better when I'm not doing so great."

A happy face was displayed on Marvin's screen. "I'm glad it makes you feel better. You deserve to feel better."

Revenant didn't know what to say to that. He wasn't used to anyone caring about his well-being. He wondered again what the hell he was doing as he reached out to take Marvin's hand in his own, pulling it towards him and dropping the gadget into his palm. Marvin looked up at him in surprise. "Friend...?"

Revenant closed Marvin's fingers around it and looked away. "Just...hold onto it for me. For now."

"Are you sure?" Marvin asked, sounding a little awed. "Don't you need it for the games?"

Revenant shrugged. "I don't use my tactical that much anyway. I like to get up close and personal in battle. Besides, this way you'll...you'll have to come see me at the end of the day. To give it back," he clarified, and goddamn it his faceplates were heating up again.

Marvin's screen positively lit up with a huge smile. "That sounds good to me, friend!" He held the little object close to his chest, his optic glowing brightly. "I'll take good care of it, I promise!"

"I know you will," Revenant said, and he meant it. "Anyway, we should...we should get back. The others will wonder where we went."

"Oh, that is true!" Marvin exclaimed. "Bloodhound will be worried. I think they don't really trust you yet. But I told them they didn't have to worry about me, I can take care of myself! And I know you wouldn't hurt me. I trust you."

That threw Revenant for a loop. Marvin...trusted him? He couldn't imagine why. But he shrugged it off, trying to keep his cool. "Let's head back, then," he mumbled, and they started walking towards the housing facility once again.

When they reached the front door, Revenant paused. "Marvin?"

"Yes?" Marvin replied, looking up from where he had been playing with the little gadget Revenant had given him.

"I'll...think about what you said. About choosing a name."

The smile on Marvin's screen grew even bigger. "Okay, friend. I'll be right here when you're ready! If you need help, just call me!"

"Yeah," Revenant said, and something in his chest felt a little lighter. "Yeah, I will."


End file.
